social security didn't cause the deficit. we don't need to cut social security to solve the problem. >> congressman defazio and a few others say let's go over the cliff if it means touching social security. what do you say? >> we should avoid going over the cliff, and the keys to the car are in the republicans' hands with respect to this tax issue. with respect to social security, i agree with what the president has said and what peter defazio said. social security is not part of the deficit and debt problem. we're not going to raid social security in order to balance other parts of the budget. as the president has said, you can deal with social security and try to strengthien it on yor own terms. with respect to health care, what we've said is we opposed the republican approach, which is simply to transfer rising health care costs onto the backs of seniors. what we should do and can do is build on the affordable care act where we found savings within the health care system by changes the incentive structures, by modernizing